(no subject)
Private
I can't believe it's already past midnight--it seems I can hardly ever get to bed before one in the morning, these days.
After the excitement of the dimensional shift a few days ago everything seems to be back to normal, though Snape is still rather scowly about the whole incident. I have to admit that I do have quite a lot of sympathy for him in this case--by the sound of it that Klein flask was quite a treasured possession, and then to have pretty much everything else destroyed... I didn't lose anything--I haven't anything glass or ceramic to break (though my inner ear was thrown off for about half an hour)--but I can imagine how he must feel, I would feel the same way if something happened to destroy all my books. So many of them have special memories with them--either they were books that I had to hunt for, or were gifts on special occasions, from special people, or they just have an intrinsic value of their own. Losing one would be bad enough, but all? No wonder Snape has been in a rotten mood. Not sure I like how he takes it out on everyone else though, i.e. the students.
Anyway, Irma Pince has hit upon the idea of us teachers giving Snape a bit of a gift, in the form of some of the things he lost. It's nowhere near replacing his stock, and certainly we can't replace any of the very special items, i.e. the rare ones, or any that were special to him. Hard for me to imagine bits of dried-up leaves or odd things floating in jars as "special" in the emotional sense, but then as he has--sorry, had--a rather large collection, one that obviously took a great deal of effort to assemble, there must have been some things that had more value than just their rarity or cost.
I've given Irma notice of what I'll buy (can't spell it from memory and the list is in my office desk drawer--carefully warded of course), so won't say here what it is. It's a bit expensive for someone on my salary, but I don't really have much to spend my money on, and I really do feel sorry for Snape.
Though in some ways I'm not sure why we're bothering--we've got to keep this secret even in the actual giving of the items, as he'd not appreciate it at all. Well, not that he'd tell us if he did, that is. He'd probably be more offended at the "charity". You know, I have to wonder why he--or really, anyone, in this sort of case--probably wouldn't like the gift at all. I mean, it's a gift, an effort to show someone that others care, want to help. I can see someone refusing gifts of things they should be able to provide for themselves, but really, in a like this, where things were lost due to an awful accident...
I don't know, I just have to wonder why someone wouldn't appreciate a gift with no strings attached, a gift simply made out of kindness. Why be offended instead of gracious?
Oh who knows, maybe he will appreciate it. Though I doubt that if he is, he'll ever show it much. Obviously I hardly know the man, so I can't even begin to wonder why he's usually so bloody negative about everything, he may have his reasons, but really, I do have to wonder sometimes.
Needless to say, I hope we can keep this a secret. I have no opporutnity to let it slip, as I hardly see much of Snape anyway, so there's no chance of him getting funny looks from me. But as has recently been shown all too clearly, it can be extremely difficult to keep secrets around here.
I can't believe it's already past midnight--it seems I can hardly ever get to bed before one in the morning, these days.
After the excitement of the dimensional shift a few days ago everything seems to be back to normal, though Snape is still rather scowly about the whole incident. I have to admit that I do have quite a lot of sympathy for him in this case--by the sound of it that Klein flask was quite a treasured possession, and then to have pretty much everything else destroyed... I didn't lose anything--I haven't anything glass or ceramic to break (though my inner ear was thrown off for about half an hour)--but I can imagine how he must feel, I would feel the same way if something happened to destroy all my books. So many of them have special memories with them--either they were books that I had to hunt for, or were gifts on special occasions, from special people, or they just have an intrinsic value of their own. Losing one would be bad enough, but all? No wonder Snape has been in a rotten mood. Not sure I like how he takes it out on everyone else though, i.e. the students.
Anyway, Irma Pince has hit upon the idea of us teachers giving Snape a bit of a gift, in the form of some of the things he lost. It's nowhere near replacing his stock, and certainly we can't replace any of the very special items, i.e. the rare ones, or any that were special to him. Hard for me to imagine bits of dried-up leaves or odd things floating in jars as "special" in the emotional sense, but then as he has--sorry, had--a rather large collection, one that obviously took a great deal of effort to assemble, there must have been some things that had more value than just their rarity or cost.
I've given Irma notice of what I'll buy (can't spell it from memory and the list is in my office desk drawer--carefully warded of course), so won't say here what it is. It's a bit expensive for someone on my salary, but I don't really have much to spend my money on, and I really do feel sorry for Snape.
Though in some ways I'm not sure why we're bothering--we've got to keep this secret even in the actual giving of the items, as he'd not appreciate it at all. Well, not that he'd tell us if he did, that is. He'd probably be more offended at the "charity". You know, I have to wonder why he--or really, anyone, in this sort of case--probably wouldn't like the gift at all. I mean, it's a gift, an effort to show someone that others care, want to help. I can see someone refusing gifts of things they should be able to provide for themselves, but really, in a like this, where things were lost due to an awful accident...
I don't know, I just have to wonder why someone wouldn't appreciate a gift with no strings attached, a gift simply made out of kindness. Why be offended instead of gracious?
Oh who knows, maybe he will appreciate it. Though I doubt that if he is, he'll ever show it much. Obviously I hardly know the man, so I can't even begin to wonder why he's usually so bloody negative about everything, he may have his reasons, but really, I do have to wonder sometimes.
Needless to say, I hope we can keep this a secret. I have no opporutnity to let it slip, as I hardly see much of Snape anyway, so there's no chance of him getting funny looks from me. But as has recently been shown all too clearly, it can be extremely difficult to keep secrets around here.